VU Research Portal Verleden boven Water Erfgoed, identiteit en binding in de IJsselmeerpolders van der Maas, D. 2014 document version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication in VU Research Portal citation for published version (APA) van der Maas, D. (2014). Verleden boven Water Erfgoed, identiteit en binding in de IJsselmeerpolders. manuscript. General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. E-mail address: [email protected] Download date: 26. Sep. 2021 History below sea level Summary History below sea level focuses on contemporary heritage practice and identity construction in the Dutch IJsselmeerpolders. As an area of land reclamations reclaimed from the Zuyder Zee in the course of the twentieth century, the IJsselmeerpolders have a reputation for being cold, sterile environments with no history, and therefore, no identity. History below sea level is divided into three parts, and successively focuses on the role of memory culture, museums and heritage practice in the construction of historical identity for new communities on new land. Identity is interpreted as a narrative construct: we make sense of ourselves and the world around us through (shared) stories about the past, present and future. But identity also has a spatial dimension: after all, through narrative we continuously shape the world around us. Therefore, in History below sea level the polders are conceptualized as a narrative environment: a physical and imagined cultural landscape that is continuously produced, experienced and interpreted in relation to narratives about Dutch history and Dutch identity in past, present and future. These narratives are not only (re)produced, experienced and interpreted through the landscape, but also through a network of museums, exhibitions, monuments, objects, people and their cultural (memory)practices that are set within the narrative environment of the polders. The historical framework that is set out in chapter one, shows us that the history and spatial development of the IJsselmeerpolders perfectly reflects the political ‘state of the nation’ throughout the twentieth century. The closing and partial draining of the Zuyder Zee and the subsequent period of planning and engineering was a time of big transition that was narrativised into stories of loss and collective trauma as well as stories that communicated an unprecedented belief in progress and national development. Three dominant narratives or myths are identified here: the myth of the battle against the water, the pioneer myth and the myth of the polders as an authentic, primeval Dutch landscape. These myths dominate local historical culture and reflect some of the key values that were supposed to describe characteristics of the new land and its inhabitants: courage, entrepreneur- and tradesman ship, patriotism and valour. Not coincidentally, these key values were already part of a much older, 19th century nationalistic discourse that was also instrumentalised in the political debates that preceded the adaptation of the Zuyder Zee bill. The myth of the battle against the water, the pioneer myth and the myth of the polders as an authentic, primeval Dutch landscape (or: primeval myth) would become leading in the spatial and cultural development of the polders. Following Jeffrey Alexander’s theory of symbolic interactionism (2006), the heritage practices of the IJsselmeerpolders are analyzed as social performances of community, that use the identified myths as 223 narrative framework and script to make cultural meaning ‘stick’. A successful performance can only be achieved when the elements of performance – the narrative framework (consisting of background scripts and specific narratives), actors, audience, means of symbolic production, mise-en-scène, and social powers – are fused. A fused performance allows audiences to experience ‘flow’: the performance is perceived as authentic and natural and ideally leads to the appropriation of the performed scripts. The analyzed case studies show us that the heritage practices of the IJsselmeerpolders are relatively unsuccessful performances: they rarely achieve flow, making the performances of community seem inauthentic and failing to persuade the audience. Part I revolves around the use of the myth of the battle against the water as a background script in local memory culture and heritage practices in the IJsselmeerpolders in past and present. In chapter three, the grassroots celebrations of the 10th and 70th anniversary of the Noordoostpolder in 1952 and 2012 are analyzed as performances of community and their success is measured by the fusion of the elements of performance. The celebrations of 2012 consisted of an opening speech by the town mayor, an opera called ‘The Pioneer’ and an initiative called the ‘Canon of the Noordoostpolder’. In 1952 similar activities were developed: an official opening ceremony, an open-air play called ‘The Eighth Day’ and an outdoor exhibition about the history of the polders. Both these anniversaries have background scripts that reflect the myth of the battle against the water and the pioneer myth, and communicate stories that celebrate the farmers, labourers and small businessmen that left their homes to build a new polder society. Within the celebrations of 2012 and 1952, the history of the polders was presented as a ‘histoire de longue durée’: a long term process of social, cultural and technological progress and innovation. The celebrations of 1952 – unlike those of 2012 - were successful because together the different activities formed a fused performance of community. The most important factors in the success of 1952 were the relatively homogeneous character of the early polder society and the undisputed social power of the Directie van de Wieringermeer, the government body responsible for the development of the polders. In 2012 the polder society had become more complex and the social powers (i.e. the local authorities) manifested themselves as external forces that facilitated the performances, instead of being a natural part of it. The social powers are also omnipresent in chapter 4, that deals with the ‘top-down’ celebration and commemoration of the engineers involved in the reclamation and development of the IJsselmeerpolders. More than the grassroots initiatives of chapter 3, the ‘official’ commemorations of polder history in chapter 4 tend to focus on the technical achievements of the engineers and the national importance of the Zuyder Zee project, thereby connecting local history to the bigger narrative of national history. The celebration of technical achievements and the ‘great men’ that made it all happen, is particularly visible in the ongoing ‘monumentalisation’ of hydraulic works in the polders like dikes, sluices and pumping-stations. These became the spatial focus of local memory culture. The myth of the 224 battle against the water and the pioneer myth formed the background script of the official celebrations of the 75th anniversary of the Afsluitdijk and the political discussions about the preservation of an artificial island that housed the first inhabitants of Lelystad, also known as Werkeiland Lelystad. The 75th anniversary of the Afsluitdijk was a fused, large-scale commemorative performance that took place in front of the cameras of the National Broadcasting Service (NOS). The analysis of the performances surrounding the anniversary shows us that the symbolic meaning of hydraulic works in the polders has gradually taken over from their functional meaning. Dikes, sluices and pumping stations are now considered important historical land marks that remind us of the ongoing battle of the Dutch against the water. As such, these hydraulic works serve as a stage and as means of symbolic production in local as well as national commemorative practices. The celebrations and practices at local heritage site Werkeiland Lelystad on the other hand, were de-fused performances and, therefore less successful. The constant battle between the involved parties and their competing views on the correct representation of local history and the importance of the island as a ‘lieux de mémoire’, resulted in an impasse and has made a fused performance of community virtually impossible up to today. The analysis of the Zuil of Lely finally, shows that discord does not necessarily result in unsuccessful or defused performances of community. The public discussion about Hans van Houwelingen’s monumental work of art and its representation of ir. Cornelis Lely was fierce, but it finally transformed the Stadhuisplein of Lelystad into a performative space that the locals used for formal and informal gatherings and commemorations of events from the polder history. In Part II I analyze how the pioneer myth is used in the construction